Treatment of Sex Offenders

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United States (Chevalier et al., 2014 ), 83 % included nominal risk categories and
absolute recidivism in their reports, while 35 % included percentiles and 33 %
include risk ratios. When asked to rank the importance of the various risk communication
metrics, 54 % of the evaluators reported that absolute recidivism estimates
provided the most important information about recidivism risk, compared to 25 %
who felt the nominal risk categories provided the most important information.
Clinical Advantages to Actuarial Risk Assessment
Psychologists have been instrumental for more than a century in developing, validating,
refining, and implementing scientifically rigorous procedures that have
advanced our understanding of psychological constructs and our prediction of
future behavior. Evidence-based practice, or the practice of providing services that
have empirically demonstrated effectiveness for each client’s needs, has become the
standard among clinicians and within most organizations and has extended into the
field of assessment. Hunsley and Mash ( 2010 ) note that evidence-based assessment
“relies on research and theory to guide the selection of constructs to be assessed for
a specific assessment purpose, the methods and measures to be used in the assessment,
and the manner in which the assessment process unfolds” (p. 7). In the area
of correctional intervention, the use of evidence-based assessment tools such as
actuarial risk measures is the first step in a comprehensive evidence-based approach,
which includes assessing the client, formulating a case conceptualization, determining
the client’s needs, deciding on and implementing a program of treatment, and
monitoring and evaluating the outcome.
Evidenced Based Practice in Correctional Settings
There is extensive research into the basic principles that should be adhered to for
human services to have the greatest positive impact. Within correctional work,
research supports that the more risk, need, and responsivity factors a program
adheres to, the more effective it is in reducing recidivism, while programs that do
not incorporate these principles potentially increase recidivism (Dowden &
Andrews, 2004 ; Flores, Russell, Latessa, & Travis, 2005 ; Lowenkamp, Pealer,
Smith, & Latessa, 2006 ; Smith & Schweitzer, 2012 ; Wormith, Althouse, Reitzel,
Fagan, & Morgan, 2007 ). Specifically, intervention is most effective when targeted
proportionally to offender risk (risk principle), focusing on criminogenic needs
(need principle), and matched to the learning style and needs of the offenders
(responsivity principle).
Consequently, evidence-based assessment is a critical first component to an
effective correctional intervention (i.e., identification of the first two principles: risk
and need). As part of that approach, risk assessment tools can “facilitate decisions